


Stoke the Fire, Melt the Ice

by BlessYuuriKatsuki (anneofklaine)



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Blacksmith!Yuuri, M/M, Magic!Yuuri, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prince!Victor, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-15 03:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11797479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anneofklaine/pseuds/BlessYuuriKatsuki
Summary: Prince Victor Nikiforov does not rule his kingdom yet, but he is starting to learn that there are changes that need to be made, and he cannot make them alone. He needs the help of a charming Blacksmith that has a rosy blush and unimaginable abilities.





	Stoke the Fire, Melt the Ice

**Author's Note:**

> unbetaed work

Victor had a bad habit. Well, the Queen, his step-mother, thought it was a bad habit. Victor loved it. But according to the Queen, as the son of the royal family, Victor should not have been sneaking away from his guards, getting out of the castle, and wandering around the village unprotected. And yet, that’s exactly what Victor would do any chance he could get, because he was perpetually tired of the castle, of the large stone walls and the cold hallways. So he would don a disguise to hide his easily-noticeable silver hair, with a dark wig and a heavy hood, and would venture down to the village any time he could manage to escape.  He loved the village. He loved walking down the bustling streets, seeing the vendors selling brightly colored fruits and vegetables shouting out to potential customers, hearing laughter from the taverns and shops, smelling the freshly baked pastries wafting from the bakeries… he loved it all. All of the experiences that he never got to experience while cooped up inside the castle walls.

And there was one other thing that Victor loved to see. One person. The Blacksmith.

Yuuri.

He had bumped into Yuuri during one of his forbidden village excursions and was immediately taken with him. They had stumbled into each other while neither of them had been looking where they were going. Victor had quickly started to apologize after he had rather unceremoniously bumped into a stranger, but his words were cut short as he caught sight of the boy he had run into. He was, quite simply, gorgeous. His ebony hair looked soft to the touch, his pink lips were shaped perfectly, and his brown eyes were drawing Victor in more and more with every passing second that he looked into them. But then suddenly, those beautiful eyes widened, and disappeared from Victor’s field of view because the boy had seemed to recognize him as the crown prince as soon as he had laid eyes on him, despite his disguise, and he had dipped swiftly into a bow.

“I apologize, your highness!” He had said, still deep in his bow. “I am sorry for not watching where I was going, I will be extra careful to be more vigilant in the future!”

They were quickly drawing the stares of passerby, and Victor really did not want to draw attention to his presence.

“It’s alright, please, you don’t have to bow like that,” Victor’s hands were hovering in the air around the boy, as if he thought he might have to reach over and straighten him back up himself.

“Please, let’s move to a less conspicuous location,” he pleaded.

Finally, the boy raised his head to look at him again, as if he was checking to make sure Victor was serious. Victor supposed he showed no trace of trickery, because a moment later the boy was standing back up regularly in front of him. Victor looked around and saw a small space between two vendor stalls that led to an alleyway. He gestured toward it, and hoped the boy would follow him.

Luckily, he did, and they stood on opposite walls of the alley facing each other and staring. Victor figured that the other boy’s staring mainly had to do with the fact that he was the crown prince who was not supposed to be roaming the village unsupervised. Seeing a royal out of their usual element would probably be a bit of a shock and so his staring was warranted. But Victor’s staring was a most likely less than acceptable, but he could not stop. The boy in front of him was fascinating and he didn’t even know anything about him. He could only imagine that he more he found out about him, the more fascinating he would become. So maybe Victor thought that if he stared long enough that he could simply puzzle out everything he would ever want to know about him. That process would probably take an eternity, but that was time that Victor was more than willing to give.

But luckily for Victor, he would be aided in his acquisition of knowledge and wouldn’t be stuck in this ally for the rest of his life.

“My name’s Yuuri,” the boy said. Victor was honestly a bit shocked that he had spoken first, not because he seemed timid, but because Victor usually had better manners than what he had been exhibiting for the previous few minutes.

Victor smiled his most charming smile, and for possibly the first time, he meant it.

“I’m Victor.”

Yuuri smiled too, and bashfully dropped his eyes, “I know.”

Victor could feel himself blushing. “Right, of course.”

Victor wasn’t the only one blushing though, and the beauty of the soft rosy hue on Yuuri’s cheeks rendered Victor speechless for another few moments before he could gather his thoughts again to form proper words and sentences.

“How did you recognize who I was?” Victor lowered his hood as he asked, so that he could talk to Yuuri more properly without his face being shadowed, although he kept his wig on.

Yuuri’s blush deepened. “Your… your eyes.”

At hearing those words Victor felt something zip though him, and it made his insides warm. “Really?” he asked, feeling his grin getting wider.

Yuuri nodded. “They’re um… Memorable.”

Victor was incredibly pleased that there was anything about him that Yuuri deemed worthy enough to be memorable, and in the back of his mind he curious about how Yuri had first seen him, but at that present moment he was too consumed with being enraptured by the boy in front of him that he had no mind to ask more questions or to think of much else.

After Victor had continued to do nothing but stare and grin at him, like the fool he was, Yuuri coughed, clearing his throat, and changed the subject.

“So, what are you doing here? Your highness,” The honorific had been tacked onto the question like an afterthought, and Victor did not want Yuuri to be worrying about such useless things like titles.

“You can call me Victor,” he started with, and Yuuri looked scandalized at just the mention of calling him by his first name, but Victor moved on, giving Yuuri no chance to protest. “And I just like coming to town. The Queen doesn’t like it, but I love getting to see everything. It’s just so lively down here!” Victor looked back toward the main street as he spoke, hearing the bustling sounds of the busy street and the laughter of people enjoying each other’s company drift down the alleyway.

“I usually go unnoticed too, until you caught me,” he teased at Yuuri with a wink. However, Yuuri seemed to take the tease as a true reprimand.

“I am terribly sorry, I did not mean to disturb your afternoon,” Yuuri looked like he was seconds away from bending into a bow again, and Victor quickly reassured him.

“Yuuri, I was only joking. I truly did not mind, and I am glad that I got the meet you.”

Victor was noticing that Yuuri blushed a lot, and he found that he liked it. The light color that would dust his cheeks made him look even more beautiful, and Victor found himself thinking that he would not mind spending lots of his time trying to make Yuuri blush as often as possible.

“Well, if you wish to continue with your business, please don’t let me stop you. I won’t draw other’s attention to your presence again.” Yuuri said.

An idea popped into Victor’s head.

“Do you have any suggestions?” He stepped toward Yuuri excitedly. “I was just aimlessly wandering before. What do you do in your spare time?”

As Victor stepped closer, Yuuri stepped back, and his back thumped against the alley wall. “I—I—I, uh.”

His stuttering was cute, and Victor’s quickly-becoming-favorite blush was high on his cheeks.

“I—I have a shop that I run. I spend most of my time there.”

“Can I see it?” Victor was quick in asking. He was keen to wiggle his way into Yuuri’s life, if he would let him.

He thought he would get more stuttered nervousness in response to his query, but on the contrary, Yuuri’s head snapped up at the question, his mouth dropped open in a look of surprise, and his eyes sparkled with excitement.

“You’d want to?” He asked eagerly. As if he didn’t already have Victor hooked on his every word.

“Of course. Take me there?” Victor moved a bit closer, but this time, Yuuri either didn’t notice or didn’t care, because he did not move backwards in retaliation, but instead he was looking at Victor with an almost starry look in his eyes.

Yuuri grinned and said, “Okay.”

As they made their way back to the main street, Victor put his hood back up to try to not draw too much attention. At the end of the ally, he turned one way down the street, and Yuuri had to stop him with a small, “Um… Your highness, it’s this way,” and pointed in the opposite direction.

“Oops! My mistake,” Victor said as he corrected his course and sidled up to Yuuri’s side.

“But remember, Yuuri,” he continued, “don’t call me ‘your highness’ or ‘sire’ or any similar title. You will expose my presence if you do that!” he put on a small pout to emphasize his point.

“O-oh, but I couldn’t possibly—“ Yuuri stammered his protest, but Victor slid closer to him and cut off his objection.

“Yuuuuuuriiiiiii.”

Yuuri’s blush betrayed his embarrassment as he was trapped in eye contact with the prince at close proximity.

“Y-yes?”

“Repeat after me. Vic-tor. Ready?”

“But—“

“Vic-tor. Your turn!”

Yuuri huffed a sigh of resignation. “Alright, V-Victor.”

Victor smiled. “Very good. Now, lead the way!”

He followed Yuuri through the streets, with the occasional guiding hand from Yuuri on his arm that sent little sparks running to his fingertips, down short unfamiliar allyways, and around shops he had never seen before, and Victor slowly started to realize just how much of the town he had never seen before. He had kept almost exclusively to the main street each time he had come to explore, and now he was beginning to see just how much he was still missing.

They walked down a particularly charming street, with flower merchants that displayed beautifully bountiful hanging baskets of trailing flowers, and little inns that boasted good meals along with comfortable accommodations; when Yuuri finally stopped walking. 

They were stopped in front of a simple shop that did not have any display windows or presented goods as most of the other shops did, all that was present was a charming painted wooden sign that hung above the door. The sign sported the image of a metal hammer with small stars floating around it. In a handsome script underneath the image as the word, _Blacksmith._  

This caught Victor a bit by surprise, he had always imagined blacksmiths to be big and burly, with permanent soot marks about them from working so regularly over open flame and hot coals. Yuuri was quite different from what he imagined a blacksmith to be, but the deviation did not bother Victor at all, in fact, he found that he quite enjoyed the experience of having Yuuri subjugate his expectations.

After Yuuri unlocked the door, he briefly turned around to look at Victor, almost as if he was checking that Victor was still standing patiently behind him.

“Um, here we are.” He said as he swung the door of the shop open and they both entered.

The room he immediately found himself in upon entering the shop looked to be nothing more than a reception area, where customers no doubt came to place and pick up orders. It was the workshop in the back, that Yuuri was already walking toward, that Victor was more interested to see anyway.

The space was warm, literally and figuratively. It was warm with the heat coming from the crackling fire that was going, constantly kept hot for work, and figuratively warm because the space looked well-worn from use, but maintained with care and attention; it was quite cozy.  He saw tools hanging in organized fashion around the walls, and some finished weaponry pieces lined on a table on a side of the shop furthest from the work area. He wandered to look at the pieces as Yuuri stood back and observed him exploring.

The pieces were beautiful. There were a few daggers and short swords, and one long sword, all with gleaming blades and intricate decorations on the handles. He lightly touched one of the handles, unable to retrain himself from wanting to touch their beauty.

“You must have some wealthy clients, these are so intricate and must take a great deal of time; to complete these would surely require a skill worth a pretty penny.” It was probably tacky for Victor to ask about Yuuri’s clients, but he was truly curious where weathly customers would come from if they were not from his own castle.

“Actually,” Yuuri answered, walking over to Victor’s side to look at the weapons himself. “These are regular pieces that I might sell in the market place.”

Victor was shocked by this, how could something that must take a great deal of time and energy for Yuuri to create be sold for a regular market price?

Victor’s confusion must have shown on his face, because Yuuri just shrugged his shoulders as he traced the design on the hilt of one of the short swords. “I don’t think someone should have to pay an enormous price to have something nice. Plus I like being able to provide people with an item that I and they can be proud of.”

Victor smiled at Yuuri’s answer. He was learning that Yuuri was kind and compassionate, and he was becoming more and more enamored with him by the seconds.

“How much do you usually sell these for?” He picked up the long sword and held it up, observing its shape and balance. It was really quite nice.

“Umm… Usually about 8 gp.”

Wow. A reduced piece indeed. He put the sword down and pulled his coin bag out from its hiding place and pulled out 10 gp and put them in Yuuri’s hand, quickly closing Yuuri’s fist around them so that he did not have the chance to protest, like Victor was expecting he was wont to do.

“Will you make me something then?” Victor asked.

Yuuri looked at the coinage in his hand like he wasn’t sure how it had gotten there. “Ah! B-But sir, I am sure that your armory is plenty full of magnificent weaponry, surely you must not need another sword from a common blacksmith like me!”

“Then make me something else! A dagger perhaps,” Victor pondered with a finger to his chin, tapping lightly as he thought.

“A dagger?” Yuuri considered, and looked at the money in his hand again. “Well then, this is far too much for such a small item!” He tried to give some of the money back, but Victor held his hands out of reach so that nothing could be returned to him.

“Nonsense, Yuuri! I would gladly pay any price for your handiwork. And besides, I’m paying for a sitting fee as well!” He said cheerily.

“A… a sitting fee? I’m not quite sure what you mean.” Yuuri said, temporarily distracted from trying to return the money in his confusion.

“Yuuri, I would love it if you would let me watch you work,” Yuuri’s face was overtaken in that lovely rosy blush as Victor explained. “I would be honored if I could observe how you produce such amazing products.”

Yuuri stood with his blushing face, simply staring at Victor for a time, before he looked at the coins in his hand again, seeming to contemplate Victor’s request.

Finally, after a few moments wherein Victor was afraid he was going to be turned away, Yuuri slowly closed his hand around the money, and looked at Victor again with a look of determination in is eye.

“Okay,” he said, sounding far more confident than he had a few moments ago. “Yes, I’ll do it.”

“Splendid!” Victor cried, jumping up and throwing his arms around Yuuri’s shoulders, squeezing him tight. He heard Yuuri sputtering under him at the contact.

“When can we start?” Victor excitedly asked, stepping back.

Yuuri straightened himself a bit, having been thrown off kilter at Victor’s enthusiastic embrace. “Well, I suppose right now, if you’d like.”

Victor simply bounced up and down again and gave little tiny claps with his hands. Yuuri chuckled, and went to retrieve a stool that Victor could sit on to watch him work. Victor perched on the seat and tried to contain his excitement as Yuuri began to gather materials and supplies.

After Yuuri seemed to gather everything that he needed to begin work, he moved to stand by the fire, and Victor waited in anticipation as Yuuri prepared to start working.

Before he did anything, however, Yuuri cast a glance over at Victor, and Victor could read hesitance in the gaze. He was not quite sure why Yuuri was hesitating, if he was afraid Victor might get bored, there should be no fear of that, he was ready to watch Yuuri for hours on end if he would let him. If he was afraid Victor wasn’t paying attention, there too was no fear of that because Victor was fairly certain that his attention was going to be on Yuuri even when not in his presence.

But the gaze only lasted for a few moments before Yuuri turned back to the fire and he held his hands in front of him in a mime of warming his hands. But then, something happened, and Victor began to understand why Yuuri gave a slight hesitation before he had started his work.

Yuuri’s hands began to glow, and a warm orange light emanated from them, and as the glow grew in intensity, so did the fire in the hearth. Yuuri moved his hands in smooth flowing movements, growing the fire, letting it breathe, and when he seemed to be satisfied with the state of the fire, he reached one of his hands behind him toward the shelves that held raw materials. A small piece of iron was summoned from the shelf and floated across the room to Yuuri’s outstretched waiting hand. Yuuri then picked up one of his nearby tools and began working on shaping the iron in the fire.

Victor was momentarily stunned while watching this display, completely absorbed in the show that he had not expected to be treated to. But eventually, he snapped out of it.

“You’re magic!” He exclaimed, practically leaping out of his seat in excitement. His outburst seemed to startle Yuuri because he jumped a little bit and looked back at Victor.

He continued to work with a skill that told of years of practice as he said, “Umm… yes?”

Victor clapped again, “Yuuri, that’s amazing!”

Yuuri blushed, and replied with a stuttered, “I—umm… thanks.” He tied the sentence off with a tiny grin, and turned back to his work and Victor returned to his perch, surely looking more starry eyed than before.

After a few hours of watching Yuuri work diligently, Victor glanced at a window he could see at the front of the shop and noticed it had gotten dark.

He knew he should go back to the castle, but he was reluctant to leave Yuuri’s presence. But, if he ever wished to leave the castle _again_ , he knew he needed to go back before any guards were sent out to look for him.

“Yuuri,” he gently called for the other man’s attention, and he turned to look at him with a flush high on his cheeks, this time not from anything Victor had said, but no doubt from the heat of the fire. He was gorgeous, and that made it even harder for Victor to leave.

“I think I have to return to the castle, I don’t want to keep you up working all night,” he said with a small chuckle.

Yuuri looked confused until he turned to look out the window at the front of the shop and noticed the change of day. “Oh. I didn’t realize how much time had passed.” He pulled the metal piece he had been working on all evening from the fire and it was glowing a dull red with heat. “I think I’m at good a stopping point for the day anyway.”

Then he placed the red hot metal into his hand. Victor leapt off the stool with a yell of shock, and was at Yuuri’s side almost instantly. “Yuuri, what are you doing!” But upon further examination, Yuuri wasn’t in pain at all, in fact he was looking at Victor quizzically before he noticed Victor staring at his hand.

“Oh! Sorry!” He moved the metal away from his hand and Victor saw that his hand was unmarred and perfectly fine. “I was cooling down the metal to set it for the evening, so I was… it was magic. I’m sorry that I startled you.”

Victor was calming his breathing from having been so quickly alarmed. He was still staring at Yuuri’s perfectly fine hand as he explained what he had been doing. Victor couldn’t help it, he reached out to run his fingers over Yuuri’s presented palm, as if he needed to touch and make sure himself that he was unharmed. As he slowly stroked his fingers over Yuuri’s palm it slowly grew colder. As the moments stretched on it grew colder and colder until it was freezing the air around it and little foggy clouds were billowing off his hand. Victor stood stunned as he continued to feel Yuuri’s cold hand.

“I was cooling it off.” Yuuri supplied again. Victor looked up to his eye level then, and saw that Yuuri was looking at him in concern, probably trying to placate Victor and make sure he hadn’t been stunned too bad. Seeing the look of concern on Yuuri’s face when really, it was Victor that was the concerned one, made him laugh, and the sudden tension that had filled the room slowly drained away. As he laughed, Yuuri cracked a smile too, sensing that Victor understood.

“That is going to take some getting used to,” Victor said as he tried to re-gather himself again.

“Sorry,” Yuuri chuckled again. “I know it’s weird.”

“No,” Victor said, cradling Yuuri’s hand in between both of his, “it’s wonderful.” _You’re wonderful._

And that was how Victor found himself, every time he managed to sneak away from the castle, going to Yuuri’s blacksmith shop to watch him work on the dagger he was crafting for Victor.

Every time Victor would show up, Yuuri would greet him with Victor’s favorite blush, and then he would get to work, usually using magic that amazed and astounded Victor.

He had seen magic before, but it was rare. Usually when he saw it, it was in the form of entertainment tricks for the high court parties he was forced to attend, and that magic was little more than sparks fired off at opportune times and flashy releases of birds. He had heard of people using magic for their craft – for actual useful purposes – but he had just never seen it in person before, and so every time he saw it from Yuuri, he was entranced. Although, he was sure he would be entranced with Yuuri even without the addition of magic.

Usually, as Yuuri would work, they would talk. Victor asked about Yuuri’s family and learned that his parents and sister ran the inn a couple blocks down the street. As Yuuri described the inn, and all its quaint eccentricities, Victor determined that he would love to stay there some time, it sounded much better than an evening alone in the castle. Yuuri also described his family, his mother who has a kind heart and would feed anyone that walked through her door, his father who was hospitable and got easily excited about knight tournaments, and his sister who was calm and collected and knew all the ins and outs of running the inn with their parents; and Yuuri’s entire family sounded lovely. Victor enjoyed hearing stories about them, and Yuuri was always full of smiles and giggles as he regaled these tales. The only time his mood darkened a little was when he talked of his late dog. Yuuri described him as being the most adorable and friendly dog he had ever had, and he still missed him a lot. Seeing the melancholy look on Yuuri’s face, Victor reolved right then and there that he would introduce Yuuri to Makkachin. Victor thought that Yuuri should be able to have some sort of dog companion in his life, and Makkachin was always very friendly with new people.

Through their conversations Victor also learned about when and where Yuuri first saw him. He told him about a royal presentation that the whole village attended. It was the presentation of the new Queen, Victor’s step-mother. Victor remembered that day. He was just a boy then, barely twelve years old, and he remembered the hot sun beating down on him while he was in his dress clothes. He remembered thinking that those presentations were always a little dumb, but they were never too bad because he and his dad would always make a game out of them. While they had to stand up on the balcony and wave for an overly-extended amount of time, his father would whisper to him the description of one of the villagers he could spot in the crowd, and then Victor would try to find that person. This silly little game helped Victor pass the time, and made those royal presentations not so bad.

Yuuri said he was at the presentation of the new Queen with his family. He told Victor with a bright red blush staining his cheeks that when he saw him up on the royal balcony that he couldn’t help but notice his beauty. He told Victor, staring resolutely at the dagger he was working on so that he won’t make eye contact with Victor that he could see the blue of his eyes and the silver shine of his hair, and that he would never forget him. When Yuuri told him this, Victor was stunned into silence, unable to do anything besides stare at Yuuri where he was channeling magic to heat the edge of the dagger, and all Victor could think is how badly he wanted to do something to make Yuuri put down that dumb piece of metal and only ever look at _him._  

But it’s still early in their relationship, so he chuckled a bit to lighten the mood, and told Yuuri that he couldn’t even begin to compare to Yuuri’s own beauty. Yuuri laughed as though Victor was teasing him. He’d just have to work on convincing him otherwise.

Yuuri asked him questions too. He asked him about his life inside the castle, to which Victor tries to explain how dull and boring it is confined inside the castle walls. He does not reign yet, so he does not have many princely duties. The Queen in the first ruler of the land currently, and she does not do much either, leaving most of the running to the advisors who only need her signature approval to keep things running smoothly in the kingdom. Victor does what he can to help, but most of the time the response he gets is a “Please, do not trouble yourself, you highness.” The advisors have orders from the Queen to keep things going as they are, so no other research is going into developing or improving the kingdom. It irritates Victor, so he has been distracting his mind with his trips to the village.

Yuuri noticed the gaping hole Victor left in his stories around the King. And Yuuri, one Victor is learning is not one to easily back down from a challenge, asked Victor about him. It takes a bit for Victor to gather his thoughts, watching Yuuri’s methodic work as he does. When he finally speaks he tells Yuuri about how his father fell ill shortly after the royal presentation that Yuuri had seen. Victor rememebers wondering if his father knew it was coming because he had seemed to be in a bit of a rush to get re-married near the end. Victor had stayed at his bedside for the few months that he could, and then one day, he was just gone. Victor had fallen asleep leaning against his father’s bed, and when he woke up, his father would not. Victor grieved for a long time after the loss of his father. His mother had died when he was a small boy, and he had lost his father. For a long time he felt like he had no family left. He spent most of his days in his room lounging about and not doing much of anything. It was only after gentle coaxing out by some of his servants and tudors that he began to re-socialize with the staff of the castle and he started to see that he had family in many different forms, not just through blood. He still missed his parents though, especially when he needed advice or a guiding hand, but he was trying to learn how to be strong from his mentors in the castle. He hoped one day that he could become a ruler that he parents would have been proud of.

When Victor finished telling his story, he was quiet for a bit. He didn’t realize he had been staring at the ground until he felt Yuuri place a comforting hand on his shoulder, and he hadn’t even noticed him moving closer until he was right there next to him. Victor looked up at the contact and Yuuri gave him a comforting smile, and told him that he is sure that Victor is someone his parents would be very proud of.

Victor smiled and placed a hand on Yuuri’s and gives him his sincere thanks for the needed comfort at that time.

They talk and talk for weeks as Victor watched Yuuri work, and Victor was beginning to suspect that Yuuri was dragging out the process for constructing this dagger more than necessary, because he’s sure the Yuuri could turn out multiple daggers in a day if he wished, with the skills he had. However, Victor didn’t mind. He enjoyed watching Yuuri work, and he enjoyed spending time with him and talking with him. They learned they have a mutual love of ice skating, of all things. When the lakes freeze over in the winter, they both enjoy the feeling of gliding along the frozen expanse with the cold wind whipping around. Victor made Yuuri promise him that they would go skating together next time the waters freeze. Yuuri agrees without much protest.

Victor enjoyed his time with Yuuri immensely, and he found himself sneaking down to the village more often because of it.

 

:::

 

“Victor, pay attention.” Yakov chided him. Victor had been mooning about all day, and he knew it. He hadn’t seen Yuuri in _three days_ , and he wanted to get away to visit him dearly. But he had been bogged down, for once, with obligations that caused Yakov to be keeping an eye on him more often. Yakov had been the main advisor to the royal family since before Victor was born, and so Victor respected him, but at that moment in time, Victor wanted nothing more than for Yakov to turn his back for only a minute so that he could make a run for it. But he would have no such luck because it seemed that whatever Yakov was lecturing him about, he actually expected Victor to give him some sort of response.

When Victor did nothing but stare at Yakov blankly as his response, Yakov gave a huff of frustration and started again.

“I was _saying_ , Vitya,” Victor sat straight in his seat, figuring that the sooner he actually did what Yakov wanted, the sooner he could try to get away. “It is about time you start picking out your own royal guards. Your father’s guards have served you and the Queen well, but soon you may be able to start taking on more duties, and those duties might require you to travel to other kingdoms, thus you need your own guard. Now, we have plenty of knights that have been training here in the castle, and are very skilled, as I’m sure you’re well aware since you seem to be good friends with the Giacometti boy. But it is up to you to design your own qualification trials in order for you to determine who you want in your guard, and more importantly, who your Head Guard will be.”

Suddenly, an idea popped into Victor’s head, and a grin spread over his face.

 

:::

 

The next morning there were flyers that had been posted all around the village with a new announcement from the rulers of the kingdom. A villager could not take a single step without seeing one of the bold faced flyers somewhere nearby. One of these flyers was inexplicably attached to the local blacksmith’s door as well.

**Open Call for:**

**Prince Nikiforov’s Royal Guard**

**Attention all magic wielders: Please make haste to the Royal Castle on the ‘morrow for the opportunity to use your skills in a way that has never been seen before in this kingdom.**

**This is a grand prospect that should not be lightly skipped.**

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I know nothing about smithing lol 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this fic!  
> Please let me know your thoughts in the comments!  
> I'll add more tags as the the fic progresses 
> 
> Feel free to drop by on tumblr! http://nagisapenguinhazuki.tumblr.com


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